Become a part of “Create in Me”

In the beginning of 2018, Rev. Brian Dixon and I started to solicit articles and reflections about worship to share in The Moravian Magazine. We believe that worship is central to our lives of faith and also that it is not just for Sunday mornings in our sanctuaries. We longed for a place to have a conversation with others about how worship, in its many forms, informed our lives.

These conversations started in earnest around the table of the New Hymnal Exploration Committee and the survey of the Moravians in North America. There seemed to be a hunger to dig deeper into our practices of worship and to explore the wonderful resources that we have and that are currently being created. So we started a new program called “Create in Me” to share new ideas for worship and music.

In our first pieces for Create in Me, we learned how to set the table of worship in order to inspire and encourage tangible connections to the worship moment from Rev. Maggie Wellert. Along with Rev. Bruce Nelson, we contemplated the importance of creating music and how to set aside time to write. And most recently, we read about how gardening and working with God’s green earth enables us to worship God with soil under our nails and the sun on our faces. We also introduced several hymns from “Sing the the Lord a New Song,” a songbook published with current hymn writers contributing to the Moravian music catalogue.

There are so many more stories, hymns and ideas we want to explore with you. Here are some things we are thinking about:

  • Starting a podcast to expand on topics and ideas in the Moravian Magazine and to just talk about the inspiring, creative ways that our lives are informed by the practices of worship.
  • Encouraging more lay people to contribute articles about how you worship and what it means to you.
  • And we’d love to hear about liturgical dance ministries, creative Christmas and Advent ideas, new songs you are writing, and much more! Since we have begun we have rejoiced with every submission of poetry and creations from you. Keep them coming! Email us at [email protected] with things you are working on and creating in your worship of God.

Here are some wise words from William Temple, author of Nature, Man and God, that inspire us; we hope they will inspire you too!

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.”

Rebecca Craver is pastor of Edmonton Moravian Church in Edmonton, Alberta.